


Folie à deux

by SpicyCheese, supersandluthors



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Also fluff, F/F, Humor, Rating may go up depending upon where the story goes, almost definitely angst, tags will be added as chapters are added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-17
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2018-12-03 11:40:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11531469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpicyCheese/pseuds/SpicyCheese, https://archiveofourown.org/users/supersandluthors/pseuds/supersandluthors
Summary: Kara and Lena wake up in bed together, except neither has any memory of how they got there. Things only get weirder from there.The fun part: Neither of us authors know where this story is going to go because we are both writing it, but not together.  We are taking turns writing each chapter and posting it without the other knowing what we wrote! We read it when you read it and pick up the story from there. We agreed at the onset that this is a fic about Kara and Lena getting together but outside of that, your guess is as good as ours! Hope you all have as much fun reading as we are writing it! Enjoy!





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there- Sam here (aka SpicyCheese) and this is my chapter! I'm just getting things rolling and hopefully setting up my lovely co-author for something excellent to come. Let us know what you think as it goes along :) Enjoy!

*_*_*_*_*

 

Kara is having the strangest dream.

She’s dancing with someone. She can’t see who it is since they’re cheek to cheek, but it’s definitely a woman. They seem to be in some sort of lodge or cabin, wooden beams, floors, and walls surround them and the only lighting is from a crackling fireplace which casts long, warm shadows over the room.

They’re swaying slowly but Kara can’t hear any music. Her dance partner doesn’t seem to mind though, actually shuffling closer, pressing her body even tighter against Kara’s.

Kara is about to say something but then the stranger turns her head slightly and starts nuzzling into Kara’s neck, placing feather light kisses there and trailing just under Kara’s jaw.

She shivers a little and lets her hand wander away from the stranger’s shoulder, sliding down to her hip, squeezing a little and pulling them closer.

“Mmm, Kara…” the vibration of the stranger’s voice against her neck, causes Kara to shiver but the movement must shake her awake because the cabin begins slowly fading out as the real world seeps back in.

She cracks one bleary eye open and finds herself gazing at her bedroom ceiling. Her glasses are still on, which is odd, but not unheard of. She’s about to remove them and try and go back to sleep- halfway hoping she might be able to finish what her unconscious started- when she notices the weight resting on her chest.

She is not alone in her bed.

Kara takes in the head resting on her sternum, dark flowing hair cascading down obscuring the woman’s face and one long arm draped over Kara’s hips above the covers.

Kara muffles a little gasp, but obviously not too well as the body smushed into her side starts to stir. The other woman must realize their position quickly too and when she looks up to face Kara, it’s hard to say which party is more shocked.

Both leap apart: Kara shucking herself to the far side of the bed, sill under the covers, while Lena all but launches herself out the other side and onto the floor. Standing now, she spins around to face Kara. 

“Kara!?” she shouts, more question than accusation.  The inquiry is cut short though, as both notice at the same time that Lena is only clad in underwear from the waist down. Lena scrambles for the sheet, half-wrapping- half holding it around herself to cover up.

“What the hell is going on? Why am I in your bed? Oh god…” she winces, one hand relinquishing some sheet, in favor of cradling her forehead instead. “My head is killing me...”

Kara tries to jog her memory towards discovering how they ended up there but her eye catches where Lena’s sheet has shifted, exposing a strip of Lena’s leg. Kara's eyes can’t help follow the soft looking, unbroken path of skin as it travels from her ankle all the way up to hip of her black lace- what is she doing. Kara shakes her head and refocuses on trying to remember the previous night. She can’t. “I have no idea…”

She’s about to fumble out from underneath duvet as well when she stops to make sure she has pants on.

A peek under the cover reveals that she is indeed fully dressed. In fact, she’s wearing a skirt even. And a shirt. And a cape.  Her entire Supergirl outfit minus the boots actually. And since all Lena sees is from the neck up is confirmed Kara Danvers, getting up is now completely out of the question. She clutches the quilt around her tighter.

Lena notices Kara’s shift of the blanket. “Are you… are you naked?”

Kara considers saying yes so she could just shimmy out of her suit under the covers and hide it easier, but the look of shock on Lena’s face reminds her that lying and saying she’s naked, even though she’s not, still leads to the wrong impression. She settles for something in the middle. “No, but I’m not appropriately dressed either. Turn around and give me a second.”

Lena turns around, curling the sheet as she goes in an attempt to maintain her own modesty.

Kara makes doubly sure Lena’s not looking her way before she super speed dresses into a tank top and sleep shorts, something more rational at least. “Okay, better.”

Lena turns around and runs her eyes up and down Kara in a way that makes Kara check herself out too- assessing if her outfit is decent enough. It seems to be, making her wonder what exactly it was that prompted Lena’s inspection, but it’s too late to change whatever it is now, she supposes. She takes a few steps to her closet and grabs her fuzzy bathrobe, tossing it across to Lena. “Here, you can put that on until you get re-dressed and let’s… let’s go in the living room and try figure this out.”

“Absolutely. Yes. Please.” Lena nods, swallowing roughly, trying to steady herself as well. She picks the bathrobe up with one hand, “Thanks for this.”

“No problem,” and Kara doesn’t let her gaze linger this time. She grabs a sweatshirt on her way out, resisting the urge to sneak another glance back.

Instead she wanders into the kitchen, hoping the bright daylight streaming in and the cold tile under her feet will wake her up a bit. And now, without the distraction of her half naked friend in her bedroom, Kara’s mind is at bit more free to finally try and untangle what might have lead to this odd predicament.

Working backwards is difficult. She doesn’t remember anything about going to bed, or returning to her apartment even- with or without Lena. The last thing she recalls is being at the restaurant and-

-Oh Rao does her head hurt.

It throbs and things are still fuzzy, only little snippets coming through. It’s like a TV with bad reception and none of it really makes sense.

“I feel like my head is splitting in two,” Lena’s voice announces from behind her. Kara turns to see Lena padding out of the bedroom, still in the pink fuzzy bathrobe.

Kara eyes her bare legs, eyebrows shot up in question “Uh, Lena?”

Lena blushes, “I um, couldn’t find my pants in there?”

“Oh. Yeah, no problem. I’m sure they’re around here somewhere.” Kara tries to keep it upbeat, trying not to freak out. She returns to her quest, riffling through the cabinet in search of Ibuprofen.

Lena makes it to the breakfast bar, leaning on it across from her. “Kara I’m…I’m not the only one that woke up confused am I?”

“Uh -no, you’re not. Unfortunately.” She finally locates the bottle and shakes four capsules into her hand, passing Lena two. She moves on and fills two cups with water. “It’s kinda scary.”

“Yeah, no kidding.” Lena takes the offered glass, downing the medicine in one go.

“So what do we do?”

Lena chases the pills with a long pull of water, and wipes her mouth. “We could check our phones. Maybe one of us has a picture or a call from last night, some kind of clue.”

“Good idea,” Kara starts towards the bedroom where she usually plugs it in, while Lena looks for her purse.

Kara is halfway there before she hears her ringtone coming from the other way. She turns and sees Lena’s look of confusion as she pulls the phone out of her own purse and walks it towards her.

Kara meets her halfway for it and sees the caller ID “Alex”. She answers it. “Hello?”

“Kara! Where the hell have you been?”

Kara winces at the volume, temple throbbing in time. “I… just woke up.”

“Really? Well whatever, I’ll be there in a few minutes. See you.”

“Wait what-“ but Alex has already hung up. Kara gapes at Lena, “My sister is on her way over here right now.”

“Seriously Kara?! I’m half naked in your living room!”

“We need to find those pants.”

They start scouring the main room, Kara grubbing around the living room, shuffling pillows and groping under the sofa, while Lena hunts diligently around the dining room.

They hunt unsuccessfully for a bit before Lena breaks the silence. “Fuck,” she growls, frustration showing as she shoves a chair back in place a bit harder than necessary. “Do you have any idea how this is going to look if your sister sees me-“

“-Oh believe me, I have a very good idea,” Kara sits back, pulling back and looking under each couch cushion with increasing urgency. “We can’t panic though. Let’s both just take a deep breath and-“

*knock knock knock*

The noise from the door cracks through the room, stopping Kara mid-sentence. Both look at each other, neither daring to do so much as breathe.

A moment passes. “Maybe they’ll go away?” Kara whispers.

*knock knock knock*  No such luck.

“Now what?” Lena hisses, clutching the bathrobe tighter around herself.

 

*_*_*_*_*


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The great pants hunt continues and Lena comes out of the closet (again)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all Morgan here (supersandluthors) and this is my first chapter of this fic! Sam and I are super excited for this project, and I know we're both excited to hear from you all as well! Feel free to send us suggestions or feedback either here or on our tumblrs, Sam is @spicycheeser and I'm at @luthorsandsupers. Hope y'all enjoy this as much as we have been!

Lena had been having the strangest dream.

She had been walking aimlessly, every way she turned her head all she could see was an ocean of bright blue, the eerie silence seemed to be echoing around her. She looked down and noticed idly that she was skating across the tops of the clouds, white and expansive stretching out in front of her. She felt her head tip slightly to the left and a smile tug at her lips as a rogue breeze passed, lifting the ends of her hair and caressing her jawline.

The further she walked the warmer she felt, the silence shifting from unsettling to comforting with every step she took.

"Lena"

A few paces back she would have jumped at the whisper of a voice calling to her but as she continued to move forward it only brought a grin to her face.

"Lena"

The voice was clearer now, practically at her ear and she stopped as she felt someone settle behind her, close but not quite touching.

She leaned back slightly, letting her back hit the solid body she knew was behind her. The back of her hand rose slowly to trace around the sharp lines of the crest, she smirked slightly as she heard the sharp intake of breath right next to her ear.

“ _Lena_ ”

The voice had been so clear the third time that she must’ve startled awake.

Awake and tangled in the sheets of a bed that didn’t belong to her.

Kara’s bed to be precise.

Not that waking up to Kara Danvers was necessarily a _bad_ thing in Lena’s book, quite the opposite actually. The reporter was an absolute goddess compared to everyone else that had ever passed through her sheets, but she would find the experience more enjoyable if she could conjure up any sort of recollection as to how they ended up spending the night together. Lena couldn’t even remember seeing Kara the previous day let alone going to bed with her.

Hell, she barely remembers the events that brought them to where they were right now.

Which is struggling to find Lena’s pants while Alex Danvers attempts to beat down the door.

* _knock knock knock_ *

"Kara! I know you're in there!"

Lena watched as Kara scrambled for a solution to their predicament, her shoulders were bouncing anxiously and she was pacing so furiously the CEO was sure she was going to wear a hole in the hardwood.

“I’ve got it!”

Though Lena hadn’t taken her eyes off of the blonde her outburst still startled her enough to make her jump. Kara grabbed onto Lena’s shoulders and steered them to the bathroom before the shorter woman had time to blink.

“Get in the closet” Lena thought she must have heard wrong until she turned around to see Kara’s panicked face and her hands making an ushering motion urging her into the bathroom.

“Excuse me?”

“The linen closet hide in the linen closet, it’s pretty roomy in there.”

With a gentle shove to her shoulders she was stumbling into the brightly lit bathroom. She felt the breeze on the back of her neck as the door slammed closed and she turned around to survey her surroundings.

The closet was on the wall opposite the toilet, she made her way over slowly praying that the floor wouldn’t creak.

The door swung open smoothly and observed the wall of blue red and yellow towels before her with a roll of her eyes, _subtle Kara._

She stepped inside the cramped linen closet and pressed her back against the towels and winced as she shut herself in and the shelves dug into her back. Her boobs made it nearly impossible for the door to shut in the first place and she was praying that if anyone _did_ come in here they wouldn’t notice the ends of her toes sticking out from under the door.

_Roomy my ass Kara Danvers._

She put her ear against the door, which wasn’t hard seeing as how the rest of her body was also pressed against the door, and strained to listen to the conversation that was happening out in the living room.

“ _Jesus Kara I was about to kick the door in, why are you still in your pajamas? It’s 2 in the afternoon.”_

Lena felt her jaw drop slightly, she had never in her life slept past 9 in the morning how in the hell did she manage to sleep until 2 pm?

_“I was uh… in the shower,”_

There was a shuffling of feet and other muffled noises she couldn’t make out from her current position until she heard the door to the fridge open and shut a little forcefully.

The next voice wasn’t Alex’s so Lena could only assume it was Maggie, the girlfriend she had heard about on occasion during their lunch dates.

_“Kara, why are there Gucci sweatpants in your refrigerator?”_

Lena blanched.

The fridge? Really?

_“Hey Kara can I use your bathroom? We’re actually headed out to Midvale to see mom and I’d rather pee before we leave than have to stop at a gas station.”_

_“No!”_

Lena could almost feel the panic in Kara’s voice radiating through the door and seeping into her own body.

_“Why not?”_

_“Waters out.”_

Lena let the ends of her mouth turn up slightly, whoever said Kara Danvers wasn’t a good liar obviously hadn’t seen her in action.

_“I thought you just got out of the shower?”_

Scratch that.

_“And my hair is still dry, because the water is out, like I just said.”_

_“Then why did it take you 15 minutes to answer the door?”_

Lena felt a tickle of something across her arm and she froze. As a child she was raised to be rational, scientific, calculating and calm when the whole world seemed to be going down in flames. But that rationality evaporated as she slowly raised her phone’s flashlight to shine onto her arm and reveal a massive spider scurrying towards her shoulder.

Oh no ma’am.

Lena let out an ungodly shriek as she flew out of the closet and the bathroom altogether, much to the surprise of everyone in the living room.

Alex and Maggie stood behind the couch with their mouths hanging open while Kara seemed to be checking her over for the fatal wounds that were the only explanation for a scream that violent.

“Jesus Mary and Joseph Kara, when was the last time you cleaned your damn linen closet? I was just nearly eaten alive by a spider the size of a cat.”

“The closet?” Alex asked incredulously, “why were you in the closet Lena? I would’ve assumed the first seventeen years were enough for a lifetime.”

Lena stared at the taller woman shocked, she had only met Alex one other time and the agent had made it quite clear that she was not going to be president of the Lena Luthor fan club anytime soon.

“I knew these couldn’t be yours Kara we both know you can’t afford Gucci sweatpants,” Maggie said with a chuckle, throwing the pants in Lena’s direction.

“I-uh-“

“Now where is this spider? We should probably trap him and let him back out,” Alex made her way over to the bathroom looking for the eight legged atrocity Lena no doubt knocked off of her in her haste to escape.

“Not to be rude or anything,” Kara said slowly eyes flitting to everyone in the room slowly trying to take in the situation, “but what the heck is going on?”

“Got him!” Alex exclaimed from the bathroom, “Lena you must have trampled him he’s barely moving poor little guy.”

Alex flushed the spider and came back out into the living room and threw a casual arm around her girlfriend.

Lena blushed as she remembered that she wasn’t wearing any pants and bent down slightly to stick her leg into the still cold sweatpants. She felt her shirt collar slip down slightly and jumped when Maggie whistled and pulled it down further revealing her collarbone.

“Damn babe, looks like we interrupted something,” she teased with a wiggle of her eyebrows.

Lena tried to look down to see what she was referring to and winced when Maggie poked the base of her neck roughly.

“Ow Jesus,”

“Kara that is literally the biggest hickey I have ever seen,” Alex pulled a disgusted look on her face as she rolled her eyes at her sister.

Hickey?

“Look there’s teeth marks,” Maggie started, poking at her yet again while trying to dodge the swatting of Lena’s hands.

Kara’s eyes widened suddenly and her glasses slid down her nose as her head popped up quickly.

“You two need to leave I need to talk to Lena. Alone.” Kara looked… angry? Maybe not Lena had never seen the blonde truly infuriated but this didn’t look quite right she looked… determined and yet somehow off put.

“Is that what you kids call it nowadays? Ok ok, we’ll leave you two to ‘talk’ remember I’m going to mom’s J’onn will call if he needs you.” Alex said with a snicker as she practically dragged Maggie out the door with her.

As soon as the lock clicked shut Kara turned around and stared past her shoulder looked Lena dead in the eyes, “I’ve had this dream before, the closet Alex, Maggie, I’ve had this dream before.”

Lena didn’t have time to process her words before Kara started yelling at the wall.

“I know you’re here!”

“Kara what the fuck is going on?” Lena felt the dread in her stomach slowly start to spread to the rest of her body as Kara ignored her.

“Come out and fix this! I don’t have the time to deal with this right now!”

Lena was very close to letting her shaking knees give out letting herself slide into the floor as she watched Kara scream at her couch cushions and turned over her lamp.

“Kara if you could just focus for a minute, how the hell did I get this bruise? Who are you yelling at?”

One hand was in her hair rubbing at her temples because Lena just _knew_ this whole fiasco was going to give her the migraine of the century, but her words didn’t deter Kara who was now pulling cutlery out of her kitchen drawers.

“Get out here you coward! Or are you afraid your little game will end up like last time?”

Lena did slide into the floor this time and closed her eyes. Yep, here comes the migraine.

She opened her eyes momentarily and turned them to the wall the TV was on and thought for a moment she had started hallucinating because there was no way Kara’s walls just started glittering…

“Kara?”

The blonde’s head snapped toward where Lena was staring and rushed over to her side, slowly lifting her to her feet. If it hadn’t been for Kara’s strong grip she was sure she would have fallen back down at what happened next.

“Kara Zor-El! Did you miss me?”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiya friends! Sam here with the next installment of our little experiment here. Plot twists galore. Hope you like it!

*_*_*_*_*

 

The creature stands before them dressed in a deep purple suit- matching pocket square, fedora, and all. It looks expensive, the material shimmering and almost luminescent. Any effect of affluence is lost though, as it appears almost oversized- hanging a bit loose over his 7 ft. lanky frame and boarder line clashing with the dark blue of his skin.

“Yeah, I miss you like I miss an Alien intestinal parasite,” she growls.

The creature _tsks,_ as if Kara were a child who’s said something amusing. “Aw, is that anyway to treat an old friend?” When he curls his dark indigo lips into a smile, Lena can see the rows of tiny razor sharp teeth.

“How about we skip the ‘playful banter’ portion and get to the part where you fix this?” Kara’s words are hard and flat, but Lena can feel the anger radiate off her friend.

“Just like a Superhero,” he sighs, almost wistful. “Skipping over important nuances and getting right to the action. Such clumsy writing.”

Kara wants to spit a retort, but realizes what their guest has just revealed and whips her head towards Lena instead- fear and apprehension written all over her face.

“It’s okay- I already knew you were Supergirl,” Lena levels. “There are far more important matters to attend to like who this is, _what_ he is, and what on Earth is going on here?”

“Ah, allow me to introduce myself,” the creature makes to step towards them but Kara holds up one menacing finger of ‘don’t you dare’ and he thinks better of it. Instead, he puts his hands in his pockets and rocks a bit, heel to toe. “Cyrano’s the name- modern day Love Enthusiast.”

Lena pulls a face at that and Kara’s quick to jump in “-Ew, no, not like that. He’s just obsessed with Love Stories.”

“I love Love, what can I say? There’s nothing better than watching two real people that are meant to be, find happiness with each other.”

“Yeah, except if the people he’s watching don’t get together on their own, he edits the world around them and re-writes it until they do,” Kara adds bitterly.

Lena blinks at that, processing but still not quite believing. “So you’re saying that he somehow orchestrated… this?” she gestures to herself, Kara and the room around them. “How is he able to do that?”

“Some genies should never be freed.” Kara mutters almost to herself. “Phenomenal cosmic power and he spends it making his own soap operas.”

“Oh god,” Lena mutters. “It’s like bad Real Person Fanfiction come to life.”

They both look at her.

“What?” Lena says with a shrug, “I don’t live under a rock- I’ve heard of fanfiction.”

Cyrano shrugs, returning his attention to Kara. “By the way, how did you know it was me?”

“You mean besides the fact that this started _the exact same way as last time_?”

“I do love a good trope,” he grins, amused. “But what was it really?”

“It was uh,” she lowers her voice a bit. “It was the bite marks. That’s not something I would do.”

A smarmy grin spreads slowly across his face, “Isn’t it though?” He winks. He adjusts his tie before turning and taking a few long strides towards the window. “Well, I think I’ve wasted enough plot for the time being. Have a good time ladies- I surely intend to. I just can’t wait to see what happens next. Toodles!”

“Wait-“ Lena starts but he’s already gone in a poof of purple smoke.

“Errrrrggg!” Kara lets out a frustrated snarl. She grabs the first thing she can find (Lena’s discarded shoe) and hurls it at the space he just occupied.

It imbeds itself into the exposed brick of her wall, and the impact seems to jolt Kara back to more rational behavior. She rolls her eyes and steps to the couch, sitting down and putting her head in her hands dejectedly. “I really hate that guy.”

“I can tell,” Lena says flatly, before joining Kara on the couch. “So what do we do now?”

“Now? Pfft, nothing,” her voices lightly muffled by her hands. “There’s nothing we can do.”

“What? How do you know?”

“Because this happened to me last year. Only it was James that time.”

“Your _boss_ James?”

“My friend James. Cyrano picked him because, yeah maybe I thought there was something there for a minute but…” Kara shakes her head. “He must have picked you this time because, I don’t know, he saw us spending so much time together and must have assumed there was something more there… Totally ridiculous right?”

“Yes. Totally...” Luckily Kara’s head is in her hands so she can’t see the nervous little swallow Lena makes. “So how did you both stop it?”

Kara chuckles darkly, finally looking at Lena. “We didn’t.” She flops back on the couch, slouching down, as if deflating. “We spent the whole day running around the city together, trying to find someone to help us, but Cyrano just kept manipulating everyone and everything around us. There were all these weird scenarios and unbelievable coincidences and… Anyway, time ended up running down and at sunset he _poofed_ back to us and asked me if I had a good day. I told him no, that you can’t manipulate circumstances and make people fall in love and…” Kara trails off a weird look crossing her face.

“…And?” Lena prompts, placing her hand on Kara’s shoulder. Kara’s eyes dart to it and she blinks, like she realized she wasn’t the only one in the room again.

“Uh, and, he was just like, _‘I suppose you’re right. If it’s not meant to be, it isn’t meant to be,’_ then just snapped his fingers and yeah, that was it. I woke up in my bed again- alone. When I found James later he had no idea what I was talking about, didn’t remember a thing.”

Lena nods thoughtfully, “Well, it sounds like we just have to make it until sunset then.”

She stands and there’s a note of conclusion to it that makes Kara feel like Lena’s just dismissed a board meeting she was running. She watches as Lena strides over to the brick wall and dislodges her shoe, before flitting around the apartment, collecting the rest of her belongings. Lena has already started to open the door to leave before Kara’s brain catches up to her.

“Wait, where are you going?”

“I’m headed back to L-Corp,” Lena says, pausing at the open doorway to adjust her purse strap on her shoulder. “I have a secure room there, that I intend to lock myself into until this insanity has expired. He can’t force two people together into some sort of manufactured scenario, if they’re nowhere near each other, right? See you tonight Kara!”

“No, wait! Lena! It doesn’t-“ but Lena is already making her way down the hallway, and out of the building. “-work like that.”

Kara swears in Kryptonian under her breath, and stomps towards the bedroom to unearth her Supergirl costume from where she hid it. She has a feeling she’s going to need it before the day is over.

 

*_*_*_*_*


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nothing goes to plan and a couple of stars are born

A genie.

A magical love obsessed genie

A magical love obsessed genie that has now targeted her and her super powered friend (her only friend) whom she’s secretly in love with.

Lena let out a frustrated sigh as she crossed the street and thanked god that she had found a pair of sunglasses in the bottom of her purse. If the paparazzi recognized her walking the streets of National City in nothing but a sleep shirt and sweatpants she’d never see the end of the tabloids.

When she reached L-Corp she snuck around back to the loading docks and made her way into the service elevator through the ground level of the parking deck.

The service elevator was relatively clean, only the delivery people ever really used it most of her staff and visitors walked through the front doors like normal people. Then again, they were usually dressed more appropriately.

When the elevator dinged signaling her arrival to the top floor, Lena stuck her head out and looked around momentarily before nearly sprinting to her office. Just 2 more steps and the doors would be open and-

“Ms. Luthor?”

No such luck.

Lena heard a loud chorus of cheers erupt out of thin air as she turned around to see Jess standing next to her desk.

What the hell?

Jess didn’t seem at all fazed as she held out a tray of coffee in one hand and a stack of files in the other. Lena felt relief flood her system as she eyed the caffeine.

“Good afternoon Jess, I’m sorry I didn’t alert you of my absence this morning is there-“

“Ms. Luthor,” Jess said hesitantly, Lena could tell she was reluctant to interrupt so she nodded for her to continue.

“You called in last night and informed me that you wouldn’t be in until late afternoon, are you ok? Are you feeling unwell?”

 _Unwell is one way to put it_ Lena thought grimly to herself but she didn’t want to scare her assistant into doing something unnecessary like alerting a doctor, she really just needed to take that coffee, grab her laptop, and lock herself in the panic room so she could work and cry out her frustrations in peace.

“I’m fine Jess, I was just… working on a project with Kara Danvers. We underestimated the effort it would require so I stayed the night and we finished it up this afternoon.”

“Stayed the night huh?” Jess asked with small smirk and an eyebrow wiggle.

This time a cacophony of laughter broke out and Lena looked around searching for speakers or some other explanation.

When she turned back Jess was still smirking expectedly apparently waiting for her to answer.

“Uh, yes. Is that a problem?” Lena asked trying to sound stern through her anxiety.

“Only if she wasn’t any good in bed”

When did everyone in her life become so brazen?

The laughter sounded again and Lena could feel herself bordering on hysterical so she grabbed her coffee and finally made her way into her office, only breathing when the mahogany doors slammed shut.

Finally. She was alone.

She made her way toward her desk to grab her computer but paused when she heard something faint tickling at her ear. The noise stopped when she did so she thought nothing of it, but once she resumed her path toward her desk she heard it again.

Was that background music?

The beat was bouncy and light, something you’d expect to hear during a scene transition on a daytime television show.

The CEO sprinted to her desk and sat roughly in her chair, causing it to spin around a couple of times before she finally swiveled to face her desk.

Cue the laughter.

Lena opened her mouth to yell at… someone, anyone but she was cut short by the beeping of her desk phone.

_“Ms. Luthor, Kara Danvers and Samuel Landry are here from Catco for the interview that you scheduled”_

Lena rubbed a hand over her eyes wearily.

“Interview for what? We have no major events or press releases coming up that I’m aware of.”

_“Did you not read the file I handed to you?”_

Lena eyed the manila envelope that she had thrown haphazardly onto her desk and carefully peeled it open.

Holy mother of-

Her face, well technically just her side profile, was splashed gratuitously across the front cover of several major gossip rags. Normally this wouldn’t be a cause for alarm, she was exceptionally careful about how she conducted herself in public, except this time her face was just one half of the big picture. A half that was attached to Kara Danvers face and she seemed to be pressed into the wall of a nightclub? Gala venue? All she could see was exposed red brick and, wait, was that tongue?

_“Ms. Luthor? Should I send them in?”_

“Uh, I’m- sure I guess?” Lena never let herself get this frazzled especially not at work, this was her domain. She ruled the business world with an iron fist. She was a tyrant with a take no prisoners attitude, but right now in her pajamas and rumpled hair, the only thing she looked ready to take was a nap.

Lord knows she needs it.

She looked up as the doors opened and immediately a slew of whistles and catcalls echoed throughout her office as Kara stepped through the doors fiddling with her glasses. The older man that walked in with her didn’t seem to acknowledge the noises echoing around the room and they both sat down awkwardly in the chairs across from her desk.

“Ms. Luthor, Samuel Landry, Catco Media,” the mad said with an extended hand and Lena could see from her chair that it glistened with sweat under the fluorescents.

“Pleasure” She said dully letting his hand flop down to his notepad as he let out an unimpressed huff.

“Why did they send two reporters? Was an interview for something as trivial as a gossip column really a two man job?”

She could see Kara wince at the icy tone of her voice and the low ooh-ing that manifested in the background only frayed her nerves further.

“He’s actually here to interview us both”

Kara spoke like she had already had a debate on the matter with _several_ higher ups. Lena had to contain herself from licking her lips at the hard set of Kara’s jaw and the fire blazing in her eyes. God angry Kara was so h-

“So Ms. Luthor how long have you and Ms. Danvers been sleeping together?”

Lena blinked out of her lust induced haze and eyed the man with her patent head bitch in charge face.

“You’re the one conducting this interview?”

“Yes Ms. Luthor I’m-“

“Get out of my office.”

Both the man and Kara blinked at the words letting them sink in before fully comprehending them.

“Ms. Luthor I-“

“I said get out of my office Simon. I’ve released the list of approved reporters, photographers, and technicians to Catco _several_ times, and if I am recalling correctly, that does not include you.”

“It’s Samuel actually.” Lena let her eyes flick over to Kara when she corrected her and gave her the barest hint of a smile; this woman was kind to a fault.

She watched as the man stood quickly, gathered his things and to make his way out of the office.

“Oh and Steven, when you return please remind your boss of our deal, I’d hate to have to cut ties with Catco, we have such a wonderful working relationship.”

The reporter didn’t bother correcting Lena as he nodded curtly and scurried out of her office.

Kara stood to follow her co-worker but Lena caught her by the cuff of her sleeve.

“You. Stay.”

Kara sat back down and Lena could see the faintest of flushes creeping up her neck and a sheepish smile gracing her face.

“I’m sorry about all of this. If it helps I totally tried to veto the whole thing but Snapper just chewed me out and-“

“Kara” Lena let out, breathier than she intended to.

“It’s ok. I understand that this whole thing isn’t exactly in our control.”

Kara nodded and sat back in the chair tilting her head to stare at the ceiling.

“I’m not exactly a fan of not being in control,”

It was so low that Lena almost missed it but when her words processed a flush crept up her neck at the implication her mind immediately jumped to. _Get a grip woman_.

The damn catcalls and whistles were back and Lena felt the blush drain from her face almost instantaneously and an annoyed scowl take its place.

“Is that a fucking laugh track?”

Kara chuckled under her breath mirthlessly, “Cyrano does love his soap operas.”

The brunette rolled her eyes; of course the fucking genie had to take this literally.

“There’s this substance, called Kryptonite that makes me weak, drains all of my powers and makes my body feel like it’s ripping apart,” Kara’s face turned to see if Lena was following and continued when her friend gave her a nod, “Last year, Maxwell Lord tried to synthesize Kryptonite, long story, but he didn’t get it quite right. What he made, well the DEO called it red Kryptonite, because they’re so original, and it in short made me lose all of my inhibitions. Every ounce of self-control I had was gone. Every bad thought I’ve ever had just came to the surface and I couldn’t control myself from letting them out.”

Lena could see Kara’s eyes storm over as she spoke, she wanted nothing more than to pull the girl close to her and assure her that Lena of all people didn’t think less of her for loss of self-control. Hell, “lack of self-control” was practically the Luthor family motto.

“I’ve never wanted to feel anything like that again. And yet here we are.”

“Well it’s slightly different this time.”

Kara turned her head to meet Lena’s eyes, the CEO quirked an eyebrow at her.

“How so?”

“Well for starters you aren’t making any decisions that you wouldn’t with a clear mind. You aren’t hurting anyone with your actions.”

Kara looked thoughtful as she mulled over her words.

“Are you sure I’m not hurting anyone with all of this? I’d hate to think that this was causing you any sort of discomfort at all I’m s-“

“I’m fine Kara, honestly, I’m a Luthor. If the worst thing that happens to me is having to spend time with you and a laugh track I think I’ll be ok.”

Lena loved it when Kara smiled. It was like watching the sun peak out from behind the clouds after a rainstorm, refreshing. Warm.

She especially enjoyed it when she was the one that could pull it out of her.

And boy oh boy the smile Kara was giving her right now was making her just the slightest bit dizzy.

Lena glanced down at the clock on her desk to avoid jumping over the desk and kissing the hero and nearly gasped when she read the time.

“How is it already 7 o’clock? It was just 4 a few minutes ago”

“TV magic?” Kara answered with a shrug and a smarmy grin.

The laugh track rang loudly in their ears as soon as the words left her lips.

Neither of them found it quite as unbearable this time around.

Lena could practically see the lightbulb go off above Kara’s head when the blonde swiveled to face her.

“I have an idea.”

“You have an idea” Lena parroted quickly, excited at the prospect of getting out of this mess.

The lightbulb seemed to dim as a bit of nervousness shone through in Kara’s voice; it reminded Lena of how different Kara could sound in and out of the uniform.

“It might be a crazy idea”

“There are no bad ideas, just bad people” Lena said with a wink hoping to pull a smile from the other woman.

“I really don’t think that’s how the phrase goes Lena.”

“No matter, continue with your crazy idea.”

“We should kiss.”

Silence.

No laugh track.

No catcalls.

No background music.

Lena swore she could hear her heart beat echoing across the room.

“We should kiss” she repeated slowly as not to swallow her tongue.

“Well it’s almost sunset right? If we kiss this little episode will have to end. I mean, all of Cyrano’s loose ends would be tied up, he’d get the story he wants and then we can go back to my place order Chinese and watch a TV show of our choosing instead of living in one.”

Lena had to admit the idea did seem appealing.

Kissing Kara, getting control of her life back, kissing Kara, being able to actually get work done, kissing Kara, going to bed and knowing where she would wake up.

Kissing Kara.

“Ok” Lena nearly startled at the amount of husk in her voice.

“Ok?”

“Ok”

They both stood stiffly and Kara slowly made her way behind Lena’s desk. Lena stepped forward abruptly at the same time as Kara, their jerky movements nearly causing them to knock heads.

“Maybe we should sit. On the couch. Or something.” Lena winced at how painfully awkward she knew she sounded but Kara only nodded and followed her over to the white couch and perched herself cautiously on the edge.

Lena sat down carefully next to her and turned to face the blonde. She could feel her cheeks ablaze but took comfort in the fact that Kara seemed to be embarrassed as well.

_She’s probably embarrassed at the thought of having to kiss you, no one wants to imagine themselves anywhere near a Luthor, let alone mouth to mouth with one._

Lena tried to drown out the voices as she Kara slowly started to lean in.

Fireworks.

There were literal fireworks going off outside, Lena assumed they were right off of her balcony and she almost wondered briefly when the special effects department came back but she really couldn’t bring herself to care.

Kara’s lips were soft and hesitant against her own but the hero still took the lead of the kiss. She gently cupped Lena’s jaw and deepened it slightly, letting her tongue briefly brush the brunette’s bottom lip.

The CEO had to hold back a groan as the two of them pulled apart. Lena jumped back off the couch and clenched out a smile, all the while trying her hardest to avoid eye contact. Kara wiped her lips off on the back of her hand and cleared her throat.

“Cyrano! Show yourself!”

The genie suddenly appeared, spinning around in Lena’s office chair, this time dressed in a leopard print suit with an orange tie and feather boa.

“Ladies, Ladies! Brava! I’d nominate you for the Emmy myself, but unfortunately they have turned down my request _many_ a time to be on the panel-“

“Cyrano” Kara interjected, “the show is over, credits rolling, that’s a wrap, can you please send us back home?”

The genie slowly stroked his chin and smirked, showing the women the barest hint of his shark like teeth.

“No.”

“No?” their response was simultaneous.

Lena could feel her blood begin to boil.

“Already so in sync, you two are just the cutest.”

Was this guy serious? Lena felt her eyebrow twitch. This was getting ridiculous.

“Why not?”

Kara looked angrier than Lena had ever seen her. Her fists were clenched at her sides and the light from what Lena assumed was her heat vision was becoming brighter by the second.

“Well you see my dearest, unlike you and Jamesy boy, you two ladies just have this spark, this chemistry! Oh yes it’s definitely OTP material. I just can’t decide what we should test next, action? Comedy? Of _course_ there will be romance, oh! Maybe a nice medical drama.”

“Medical what now?”

“Yes my dears, you’re in luck, I’m not giving up on you, oh no, there’s no chance I’m turning off the TV now, not when I’m just getting started. In fact I’m very excited to inform you that we will be, drumroll please, channel surfing!”

A million thoughts made their way through Lena’s mind in a matter of milliseconds but only one word actually managed to slip past the tightness in her throat.

“Crap.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for all the feedback and support! comments, questions, and suggestions can be left here or @spicycheeser and @luthorsandsupers much love xx - Morgan


	5. Chapter 5

 

*_*_*_*_*

 

“Crap.” 

Lena had no more than uttered the words before Cyrano was gone in another  _ poof _ of smoke.

Both women sat frozen for a moment, anticipating… something. But nothing came. 

“Maybe he was bluffing?” Kara offers hesitantly.

Lena shakes her head. “No, I don’t think that’s his style.” 

Lena’s met men like Cyrano- men whose sole purpose is their own self-indulgent pursuits. Men like that don’t bluff, the throw everything they have in. They play to win. 

“We need to come up with a new plan because ‘beating the clock’ doesn’t seem to be an option any longer.”

“You’re right,” Kara says, standing as well. “I’ll check the balcony and you see going to see what’s on the News. We need to figure out what kind of world we’re in so we can best-“

She’s interrupted as the lights in the room start to blink, before going out entirely. The usual ambient buzzing and whirring of technology, that ever-present din L-Corp emits, quiets as well. The power is out. 

“Okaaaay, well that was interesting,” Kara says.

The only light in the room is now coming from the windows so they make their way toward the balcony. It’s eerily quite and the heavy silence only seems to make their apprehension grow with every step. 

The balcony door must have been open a crack because a gust of wind blows in, ruffling a newspaper on Lena’s desk. The noise startles her, but the gasp catches in her throat- the irrational quieted by a sudden realization. “Wait… I never read the paper at work.” 

And she means  _ never _ . It’s a rule actually, one she made for herself when she was first starting out at LuthorCorp. She never reads the paper at work- never lets public opinion sway or distract her when she mind should be focused. CatCo magazine has become a bit of an exception, but by in large Lena doesn’t even allow  _ Jess _ to bring a newspaper up. Having one here on her desk is beyond out of place, which can only mean one thing…

Lena snorts a little huff of annoyance before grabbing the paper. She reads the headline quickly and can’t help but think  _ Of course.  _ She hands it to Kara and can’t help but be transfixed by the little crease of worry that forms between Kara’s brows as she reads. 

“ ‘NATIONAL CITY QUARANTINE COMPLETE AS ‘ZOMBIE’ VIRUS INFECTION LEVEL REACHES CRITICAL’,” Kara reads in utter disbelief. 

 

“Bit on the nose, isn’t it?” Lena hums, unimpressed, addressing the ceiling.  “And you said  _ Kara _ was the sloppy writer?”

Kara is aware that Lena’s talking, but only that. Even though she knows it’s not ‘real’, the moment she read the headline she pictured the mass chaos, a whole city of people in danger, and instinct took over. She is out on the balcony, surveying the damage, even before she processes why. 

It’s a scene straight out of a disaster movie. Smoke from various fires dots the damaged and crumbling skyline, and there’s even what appears to me a military helicopter crashed and lodged in the building adjacent to them. 

Lena stands at the door, eyebrows knit in shock as well. “Oh god.”

“Stay here,” Kara- no  _ Supergirl _ \- tells her, because even with the glasses and the ponytail Lena can tell something has shifted suddenly. “I’m going to fly to the DEO. No matter what world or scenario we’re in I think we’re going to need their help.”

It makes perfect sense of course, but some weird part of Lena still feels a bit abandoned. She swallows that feeling down, nodding fervently in assent instead. “Yes. Of course. Go.”  

Kara must pick up on something in Lena’s tone because she strides back over to where Lena is by the door, stopping just a foot away. Kara has an odd look on her face, intense but also constricted, like she the words she wants to say are lodged way down in her throat. What ends up coming out instead is, “It’s going to be fine.” 

Lena waits for more, but there isn’t, so she simply nods, “Okay.” 

Kara looks a bit like she’s waiting for more too, but must be satisfied because she nods back, “Okay.” 

Lena is already dissecting what on Earth that all was when Kara sheds her glasses and starts her run towards the balcony ledge. Her brain is almost too late when it catches up with a sickening thought. 

_ “KARA STOP!” _

The blonde freezes just before lift-off, one foot up on railing. Kara scans around quickly, trying to spot whatever is causing Lena’s panic. “What’s wrong? What is it?”

“I…” Lena has to blink several times. Kara is mid-change, glasses gone and shirt unbuttoned enough that Lena has full view of that iconic red ‘S’. While she has known Kara’s identity for a while, there’s something jarring about watching her friend morph into someone else. All the more reason that the realization occurred to her in the first place perhaps. “You need to check if you still have your powers.”

“What?” Kara laughs, giving Lena a quizzical look. “Why wouldn’t I…” her expression changes. “You don’t think he- _could_ _he even_?”

“You said Phenomenal Cosmic power, right?” 

Kara steps down and heads back into Lena’s office, buttoning her shirt as she goes.  

Once inside, Kara sets her sights on the coffee cup on Lena’s desk and scrunches her face, squinting in concentration. Nothing happens. Next she purses her lips together, takes a deep breath and blows- but nothing more than a mimed  _ woooh _ comes out. When she tries (and fails) to throw Lena’s desk across the room, Lena has to cover her mouth from laughing- it’s the most adorable thing she’s ever seen. 

Kara is far less amused. “Alright this is SO not okay-  _ Cyrano _ !” She shouts at the ceiling, the walls, the room in general. “You were going to let me leap to my death off the balcony! What kind of show are you running!?”

“Kara, sweetie, please don’t break the 4 th wall.” The former-genie’s voice sighs, narrating aloud from what feels like the atmosphere itself. “This isn’t Game of Chairs or whatever- I’m not about to just kill my main characters willy-nilly” He pauses, “Thoooooough dying in each other’s arms isn’t necessarily off the table… Anyway, if you jumped I would have given them back or changed something else up. Slow burn or otherwise, you know what my end game is. Just trust me. Now please, back to the story.”

“Wait- Cyrano? CYRANO!” Kara yells, before letting her shoulders slump in frustration. “I really hate that guy,” she sighs before turning back to Lena. “Okay, so we need a new plan. We have to get to the DEO, through a city full of zombies, totally unarmed. Please tell me you have an idea?”

“You might not be a Super right now, but I’m still a Luthor. I always have a plan,” Lena smirks, adding. “I also have a whole R & D department in the sub-basement we can raid for supplies and ammo.”

“Okaaaaay, but we still have a potential building full of zombies between here and there. What about that?”

Lena pauses a moment in thought before making her way to the shelves on the other side of the office. She rotates a particularly ugly vase a quarter turn to the side and with a dramatic hydraulic  _ whoosh _ , a hidden door opens. 

“My private study, come on.” Lena beckons before disappearing through the entrance.  

Kara realizes her mouth is open. She shuts it but has to shake her head as she follows because Lena Luthor never ceases to amaze her.

Also amazing is Lena’s ‘private study’. 

It’s a third of the size of Lena’s office and instead of the minimalist/antiseptic business aesthetic, this feels homey. There are two couches- soft looking ones- and paintings on the wall. There’s a huge raised exam table covered in mechanical parts half assembled or created and fully stuffed bookcases everywhere else. Personal knick-knacks dot the scene and above the desk- “Wait, is that a picture of me?”

Lena pops her head out from behind the door of what is presumably a storage closet, cheeks tinged pink. “Oh. Uh, yes actually.”

Kara walks over to examine it closer. It  _ is _ her, silhouetted in the spotlight from a helicopter. “This is from that first night, when I saved Alex’s plane.”

“Yes, I suppose it is.” She’s returned to rooting around, voice slightly muffled now.

“Did you get it from the CatCo archives or something?” Kara touches the frame fondly, thinking about that night, all the excitement- the feeling that she was finally becoming… well,  _ herself _ in a way.

There’s a pause, it’s small, but it’s there. “No, I… I clipped it when I saw it in the paper.”

She clipped it from the paper. The paper that came out at least a year, before Lena even moved to National City and well before they knew each other. 

Kara has a million questions, but never gets the chance to ask because Lena let’s out a very out of character whoop of delight, “Ah-HA! I knew I kept them!”

Whatever she thought Lena might pull out of that storage space, it certainly wasn’t two giant swords and a shield. Her face must register her confusion because Lena’s quick to explain. “It’s left over from college. My friend invited me to do this medieval dress up thing a few times.”

Kara’s eyes widen in understanding, “You LARP’d?” 

“Oh… uh… yes, I guess.”

Kara does a little happy dance of excitement “That is AMAZING! So did my sis- I mean, uh, someone else I know. Uh,” she clears her throat, remembering this was probably not the time, nor her story to tell. “I mean, that’s great- about the swords. It gives us something to work with. Though I’m not sure how good it’s going to be against an army of the undead but...”

“Speak for yourself,” Lena smirks, swinging the sword around with a little flourish of effortless grace. “They called me the Blood Queen.”

_ “You were a queen?!?” _

This time Lena blushes. “Yes. That’s why I have two swords.”

Kara blinks.

“One for knighting people and the other for battle.”

“But how often does a queen really have to battle?” Kara jokes.

“I was a very involved ruler,” Lena shrugs.  

“Alright, that aside, I’m still not sure how we’re going to pull this off.”

“Trust me,” Lena says, and maybe a bit of the confidence she musters is for show, but she knows they’ll need it. “It’ll be fine.”

 

*_*_*

 

It was not fine. 

Somewhere between being ambushed on the stairwell by dozens of Undead, and having to descend the remaining fifteen stories on the ladder inside the freight elevator, Lena realizes that no matter how accomplished a strategist she is, she’s no match for someone who doesn’t play by the same rules. The deck is stacked against them. 

“This- isn’t- working!” Lena growls as she hacks their way towards the Employee Only area. They made it as far as the second floor. Lena heaves the sword and slices the head clean off a particularly nasty looking zombie and knows they need an out, and quit. “We need to find shelter and regroup.”

Kara is busy using her shield as a battering ram, pushing a group into the open elevator shaft. “Yes! Please!”

“Over there!” she points. “The employee lounge!”

Kara wards off a group of three, blocking for Lena as she pries open the door with her sword. Kara gives them an extra shove and uses the space to slide in as Lena closes the door behind them, engulfing them in darkness. Lena braces the door, “Kara! Find something to push against this!” 

Kara manages spots the lumpy profile of a sofa in the dimness.  She races over, throwing all her weight into pushing it across the floor as Lena struggles to keep the door closed against the creatures trying to bust through. Once it’s in place bracing the door, Lena threads the sword through the door handle and the locking mechanism on the other side, sealing them in. 

Both women step back and wait, watching to make sure the door holds. Thumps from the other side persist, but it seems secure. 

“I think it’s good,

The only illumination in the room is from the moon outside, as it seeps in through the one small ceiling window at the adjacent end. Taking her time now to assess further, Kara can make out the shapes of a pool table, a fridge, and a few other odd shaped things. There are no other doors. They’ve backed themselves into a corner. They’re trapped and the room starts to feel more like a tomb than an escape. “Oh man…”

Lena must be thinking the same thing and in the dark she reaches out, grasping Kara’s hand. Kara whips her head to Lena, surprised. 

“Come here,” Lena says and Kara’s heart thrums in her chest, mouth dry, realizing the proximity between them. Lena’s clothes are ripped and streaked with blood castoff from her sword. She has some smudged on her cheek as well and Kara can’t help think that there’s something strikingly becoming about this Warrior side of Lena. Her traitorous brain flashes back to their kiss from earlier, how easy it had been to let the whole world slide away and lose herself in it. Kara is a bit afraid of that- of losing control- of giving into selfish impulses, especially when they could risk a friendship she values more than anyone could understand. 

Luckily though, it seems she won’t be tempted this time because instead of pulling Kara towards her like Kara thought (hoped?), Lena leads them towards the darker side of room. As they get closer, Kara sees the dark leather couch and when they sit Lena lets go of her hand. 

“I know I said we needed to regroup but I was thinking… what if we don’t?” Lena begins. “Cyrano wants us to run, to move the plot forward, but what if we don’t move it forward. What if we just stay still?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Kara shakes her head. “James and I tried that. Cyrano caved in the roof to get us moving again. We almost died.”

“-But you didn’t, that’s the thing.” And in the dim light all Kara can really see is the whites of Lena’s eyes, widened in slightly manic sounding desperation. “We could just stay here. Until he gets too bored or whatever. You heard it himself, he’s not going to kill us.”

“ _ You don’t know that!” _ Kara bites. She’s picturing the city as she saw it from the balcony- chaos and devastation everywhere, hundreds of thousands of people suffering. “You said yourself he’s not the kind of guy to bluff and I can’t afford to risk it.” 

She’s picturing Alex down there somewhere. She’s picturing Winn and James and Maggie and J’onn and everyone she’s ever known and she’s furious that Lena would play it so fast and loose with their fate. “I can’t afford to just wait- I  _ have _ to get back! I have people that depend on me and people that I have to survive to protect!” 

Kara feels the shift in Lena, more than sees it. She feels the hardening, the solidification of that mask that Lena slips into- the one she wears when she doesn’t want people to see that she’s hurt. 

“Right. Of course. You have people. And I don’t.” 

Kara can almost hear the way Lena’s jaw clamps down over words unsaid. “Lena, I didn’t mean-“

“-Yes. You did.” She says firmly, smoothing her expression quickly after, once again all business. “And it is true. Either way we have bought ourselves some time for a new plan now. Any thoughts?”

Kara opens her mouth, clearly reticent to move on from the topic, but ends up closing it. She nods in defeated agreement and begins to survey their environment for something they can use. That’s when she spots it. Her brain whirrs, extrapolating possibilities and  _ oh this is going to be a doozy _ . “I have one idea. But it’s going to sound a little crazy. ”

Lena seems to relax- happy to put her focus elsewhere. She hefts her sword so it’s resting on her shoulder and raises an eyebrow in conspiratorial appreciation. “I’m all ears.” 

 

*_*_*_*_*


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Out of the frying pan and into the fire

“I still can’t believe you actually know how to do this”

“This was your idea Kara”

“I know but usually when I suggest things like this someone is around to tell me no”

“Yes, well lucky for both of us I’m just as desperate to get out of this as you are”

Lena is bent over the portable gas stove top, rewiring the device to explode when the built in cooking timer hit zero. She couldn’t see Kara’s face, but she could hear the awkward shuffling of Kara’s feet and she could tell there was lingering discomfort with the way their interaction earlier had ended.

Lena wiped at the sweat beading on her forehead and used the opportunity to sneak a peek at her. Kara was pacing nervously and letting her eyes flitter around the room, never lingering on one thing too long. Yes, definitely still uncomfortable. Lena returns to the task at hand, and attaches the gas can back into place and closed the back panel carefully. “It’s done.”

Kara’s head jerks back in her direction, “And it’s going to work?”

Lena had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes. “My brother was a terrorist, I know my way around a bomb Kara.” Her tone was icier than need be and she had to hold back a wince as she saw a deep frown etch its way onto Kara’s, she felt her stomach turn as the pit residing there deepened.

She wasn’t mad at Kara, she wasn’t, but what she had said was true, and Lena didn’t like the way it sat so heavily in her gut.

She didn’t have anyone.

She didn’t have anyone waiting for her when all of this was over. All she had was Kara who was stuck in this mess right alongside her, and obviously more worried about returning to her friends that actually mattered than dealing with Lena and a manic genie.

“What’s the plan?” Kara has turned the pool table onto its side creating a, hopefully, thick enough barrier to shield them from the blast radius.

“The timer needs to be set so that whoever is throwing it will have time to take cover but also so that it explodes quickly enough to make sure that it hits all of them, I’d say no more than 10 seconds.”

Kara gives her a quick nod before carefully extracting the makeshift explosive from Lena’s grip.

“I’ll do it. Make sure the fire extinguisher is ready.”

Lena grabbed the bright red canister of the wall and squeezed the handle once to make sure it was actually going to do its job. Satisfied with the white foam that came out she turned back to Kara and gave her a nod.

Now or never.

She could hear the groans outside the door now as Kara stood with her back to her hand poised on the sword still holding the lounge door shut.

All of a sudden the mouth of hell was gaping open and the undead creatures were scrambling to get into the break room.

Lena ducked behind the pool table and curled herself into a fetal position. She counted her breaths waiting for the explosion to rock the room and burst her eardrums, but it wasn’t coming.

It’s been too long, it’s over, there’s no more ti-

A flash of blonde hair rushed past her just as the crack of metal exploding echoed throughout the room. The shock of the blast sent the table skittering into the wall and pushed Lena and Kara roughly into the white painted cinder blocks.

“We’ve got to go” Kara’s words were dull in her ears and Lena could barely make them out around the ringing but she nodded and lead the way fire extinguisher in hand.

The scene was grotesque; decaying half burnt body parts littered the floor of the room and the hall. Her building was in flames and Lena couldn’t help but to let a rogue tear make its way down her soot covered cheek as she watched what was left of her legacy go up in smoke.

They finally made it down to the subbasement and despite everything else that had happened the she felt a smug burst of pride shoot down her spine at the awed look on Kara’s face.

“Grab what you can, we just need enough firepower to get us to the DEO. I’ve been experimenting with bulletproof materials on different types of vehicles, we can take one of the prototypes, what are you most comfortable driving?”

Lena walked briskly to the garage adjacent the armory room, leaving barely any time for her words to settle but she was agitated and tired. She stopped when she noticed Kara hadn’t followed her in.

“I grew up on a farm on Midvale and I can fly. Unless you happen to have a bulletproof tractor I think you’re going to have to drive.”

 

*_*_*

Lena had never seen Kara look as nauseous as she was hanging out of the window of the war ready Aston Martin the CEO was currently racing through the streets of National City.

Kara, shotgun in hand, was firing diligently at the pack of undead creatures that had somehow followed them from L-Corp and attempting to scream directions to the DEO base.

“It should be the next left up here” They were on the outskirts of the city, which looked exactly like the rest of National City, burning and crumbling before their eyes.

Lena made a hard left, nearly hurling Kara out of the window in the process but immediately slammed on the breaks. Half of a burning skyscraper lay directly in the middle of the road, cutting them off from the final block they needed to travel in order to reach their destination.

“We’re going to have to hoof it.” Lena turned the car off and grabbed her gear out of the backseat.

The women rounded the car, guns strapped to their backs and armed for confrontation and sprinted around the corner of the decaying concrete. Lena nearly gagged at the smell as they grew closer and she could tell by the look on Kara’s face that she too realized that it was too late for anyone that had been caught inside.

As they cleared the building a low-laying brown brick structure came into view and both women stopped in their tracks.

“The DEO is under a post office?” Lena had of course assumed that there was some sort of discretion that had to be maintained and therefore an air of secrecy but this just seemed mundane.

“No,” Kara’s voice was nothing more than a rasp scratching its way out of her throat. “This isn’t right it isn’t here. Why isn’t it here? Why- Where-“

Lena could see the anger building on Kara’s face masking her usually optimistic demeanor as she came to the realization that Lena had already accepted.

Help wasn’t coming.

“Kara you don’t have your powers, this universe probably doesn’t even have aliens or the DEO. I’m sure your friends-“

“Alex wouldn’t just leave me behind. She wouldn’t.”

She was sure if Kara had her powers right now Lena would be on the business end of a blast of heat vision.

“They wouldn’t just leave me here! A-Alex, James, Winn, they’re my fam- they wouldn- they wouldn’t”

Lena winced as Kara’s yells echoed down the empty streets, bouncing off cracked walls and long shadows cast by the glow of the fires. Lena turned away, comforting was never her strong suit, but that’s when she saw them.

A group of the reanimated undead rounding the corner slowly, Lena could see the shine of blood staining their mouths from where she stood.

“Kara?”

“They have to be in the city somewhere we have to find them.”

She could hear the growls now and see the pieces of rotted grey flesh falling from the corpses as they ventured closer.

“Kara.”

“You don’t understand I can’t do this without anyone, I can’t do this alone I can’t-“

Lena gagged on the stench of rot, foul and sour, piercing the air. She tore the rifle off of her back and aimed at the one at the front of the pack, silently thanking any higher power that was listening when its head hit the ground and the body stopped moving.

The shot seemed to wake Kara out of her panic as she reached for her own weapon strapped to her back and aimed at the next closest one. The creatures fall slowly until only two are left advancing toward them. Out of the corner of her eye she sees Kara stall, attempting to reload but the weapon seems to be jammed. The blonde futilely slams the weapon against the decaying brick of the skyscraper and Lena’s breath rushes out of her lungs when she sees the building tremble.

Everything seems to happen in slow motion. Logically she knows that she’s no athlete, even if she were to get to Kara in time the debris she can see coming loose will just crush them both, but she supposes for television to be entertaining sometimes logic has to go out the window.

In what she guesses is an extreme burst of adrenaline she sprints to where Kara, beautiful powerless Kara, is perched behind the building. She grabs the Kara’s wrist and pulls as hard as she can, flinging her to the ground as soon as the broken piece of the structure rains down on them.

Lena goes from feeling every atom vibrating around her to feeling hardly anything at all.

Kara is in front of her eyes wide and, is she saying something? She seems to be saying something but Lena can’t tell what it is, all she can hear is rushing, ringing.

Kara is sobbing now, practically into her hair as she comes closer her hands are regarding her carefully, so carefully, gentler than Lena thinks anyone has ever been with her but one glance down and she knows why.

A piece of the structural beam is protruding from her abdomen. Lena blinks slowly hardly processing it as she lowers her hand to wipe at the blood that seems to be pouring down her front.

“It must have severed my spinal column,” she tries to say but the words sound like a dull buzz bouncing around her skull.

“I’m not ready to die.” This time she can feel her tongue trip clumsily over the words, she know she must sound garbled, if Kara can hear her over the chaos going on around them anyways.

And she’s not. Ready to die that is. She hasn’t even lived for god’s sake, but she was starting to. She had one whole friend, which was more than she could have said at any other time in her life, her last name was becoming something that people respected rather than feared, she was, she was-

In love.

With an indestructible alien from outer space who brought her lunch when she forgot to eat and let her pick the movies and didn’t even frown when she chose a documentary.

She wasn’t ready.

She could see Kara’s lips moving once again but her mouth was shaking and she was never really good at reading lips anyways and her head felt so heavy, when had she become so tired? She tried to laugh, it’s always been a bad habit, making light of her misfortunes, but blood comes up instead along with a garbled cough and she can feel it running down her chin and staining her neck.

She isn’t going out like this, dirty, tear stained, in sweatpants and a dirty t-shirt. From somewhere in the back of her mind she can hear someone saying put pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding so her hands trailed down to the hole and pushed tight.

Put pressure on the wound we need to stop the bleeding.

Luthor, put pressure on the wound we need to stop this bleeding.

She felt a warm press of dry lips to her temple as everything faded into static.

 

*_*_*

 

“Luthor! I said put pressure on that wound we need to stop the bleeding now!”

Lena blinked.

Hadn’t she just been dead?

She stood in the middle of what she assumed was a brightly lit bustling ER. The back doors were open and she could see ambulance after ambulance lined up and overflowing with paramedics and people strapped down to gurneys.

What the hell.

Without realizing what she was doing her body was moving her toward a patient covered in blood and the doctor that had called her name.

“What’ve we got?” what the fuck was she saying.

“GSW to the chest, there’s no exit wound we need to get her to an OR stat Dr. Luthor, take Schott and Lane with you” The man was tall, black, handsome with a fatherly face but a grim look in his eyes.

She looked over the woman, whose life was apparently now in her hands, and stopped cold when she got to her face.

Holy shit.

“That’s my sister.”

The voice is a few yards behind her, Lena barely hears it around the commotion of the room but her body sags in relief.

“That’s my sister!”

Kara is now beside her, clutching desperately to Alex’s hand as she lies unmoving on the table.

“Dr. Danvers I thought I told you to tend to the girl on her way to OR 2?” The man is stern but she can hear him holding back tears as he reprimands the blonde.

“I’ll give it to Schott it’s a through and through to the shoulder J’onn Kara can scrub in with me.” Lena didn’t know how she knew that information or how she knew the man’s name but he was staring at her intensely, letting his eyes hop from her to Kara to Alex.

“It’s your call Dr. Luthor, if you think Schott will do as a good a job as my best Peds surgeon then you can take Dr. Danvers.”

Lena nodded firmly once and sent Winn off with James. She looked back down at Alex, blue scrubs were torn open down the middle and stained dark from her injuries.

“What happened?” Kara’s voice is so soft and all of a sudden her latex glove covered hands are cradling her face and pulling her into a hug.

“Big shootout downtown at the bank, lots of cops as well as civilians down, they requested a few surgeons on site, Alex and a few others volunteered to go but the gunmen apparently had friends,”

Kara furrowed her eyebrows and looked back down at Alex while Lucy set up an IV.

“I have no idea how I know any of that” Lena admitted sheepishly running a hand through her ponytail.

“I meant with you? What happened with you are you ok?”

“I know you guys have some like, unspoken sexual tension or something, but don’t you think that can wait until after we remove a bullet from one of our friends?”

Lucy had her hands on her hips and an eyebrow raised and the two women sprung to action.

Lena remembered med school fondly, but then again she regarded most of the days before Lex went crazy fondly, but the thought of saving lives had thrilled her. The human body was just another machine, another series of equations that Lena was fascinated by.

But then Lex had gone and killed innocent people in his vendetta against the man of steel and no one wanted a Luthor in charge when someone’s life was on the line.

It had been years since Lena had even looked at a cadaver she had never dreamed that she would actually be opening up someone’s chest, no not someone.

Kara’s sister, the person she loves most in this world. No pressure.

“She’s seizing, we need to get her in the OR stat”

Lena, Kara and Lucy ran with the bed down long sterile hallways past nurses’ stations and families visiting loved one. Lena didn’t pay attention to where she was going in the slightest, letting her feet carry her with what she assumed was muscle memory.

“Lane there’s blood in the chest I’m gonna need a clamp on that, Danvers I need betadine around the wound, there’s no exit wound I’m gonna have to go in.”

Kara gave her a strange look as they burst into the OR, not a bad look per se, just one that Lena chose not to dwell on considering the circumstances. They’d talk after they save Alex.

Lena didn’t even blink as she was handed a scalpel and enlarged the wound on Alex’s chest to get a better angle at the bullet that was still lodged in there.

“We’re looking at injuries to the pulmonary artery and the vein,” Kara said quietly, intensely, her eyes never moved from the incision Lena had made.

“The bullet seems to be lodged behind the aorta, we’re going to have to do this carefully. Are you ready?” Lena eyed the women next to her along with the nurses and other specialists in the room. At Kara’s small nod Lena let herself smile.

“Alright people, let’s save some lives.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys sdcc was wild but this ship is still sailing, let us know what y'all think!


	7. Chapter 7

*_*_*_*_*

 

"That. Was. Amazing!" Lena cheers, as she bursts through the door and into the staff locker room.

It took four hours and every muscle in Lena's body aches from the tension of stress and concentration, but she managed to properly sew Alex back together. The older Danvers sister should be resting quietly in her hospital room, likely unconscious for another half a day or so, but will live to fight another day.

Lena strode out of the Operating Room, exhausted but buzzing, and juiced up on adrenaline and a feeling of pure magic. She feels unstoppable, like she really accomplished something incredible, and maybe it's that air of excitement that clouds her from noticing she was the only one with that bounce in her step.

"Kara did you see me in there! It was everything I used to dream about- did I ever tell you I was going to become a surgeon at one point? God that was so incredible!"

"What is _wrong with you_?" Kara's outrage breaks Lena from her gaze. "My sister almost died and you're acting like you just won the lottery!"

"Your sister?” Lena blinks. “Kara, that's not Alex. Alex was never in danger. Neither was Winn or anyone else. This isn’t real, it’s just another scene from the daydreams of a madman." She wants to laugh. She wants to cry. She's overwhelmed by emotions, can't Kara understand that? "I just got to live out one of my greatest dreams. I got to save someone- unequivocally make a difference in someone's life for the better. I'm sorry but that's incredibly exciting and even if it isn't real, it felt real to me. "

Kara huffs, unamused. "Yeah, it felt real to me too." She starts to turn towards the door, but stops. "I'm glad you can experience that Lena, but you're wrong about Alex not being in danger. EVERYONE is in danger as long as I'm stuck in this deranged TV show. So if you want to waste time playing hero in this fantasy world, be my guest, but don't expect me to just stick around and join you." Kara storms out of the locker room before Lena can even formulate a response.

Alone once more, she slams her palm on the door of the locker, the clang reverberating through the room. Lena wants to be furious, to storm after Kara and sling something back- the ‘fight’ part of her ‘fight or flight’ instinct demanding satisfaction. She wants to yell that the time they've spent in this fantasy world is the most alive she's felt out outside of her lunches with Kara. She wants to say a lot of things except she knows... that Kara is right. Kara's right about Lena losing focus of the mission- of getting home.

She is furious with herself for falling into Cyrano's trap. It’s ridiculous that she let the genie play to her emotions like this, that she let herself get wrapped up in the obvious set up and step so easily into the role he wanted her play- wanted both of them to play. Part of Lena, a sick part, knows that she may be letting herself be played too. Part of her _is_ enjoying this time with Kara, playing into it because maybe she wants the same results as him.

The problem is, of course, Cyrano doesn't know Kara would never be interested in her like that. Unlike Lena though, he doesn't seem willing to settle for their relationship to be limited to friendship.

And then, with sick understanding, she realizes what she has to do.

Her stomach turns at the thought, and maybe this is what 'for the greater good' feels like. Less elation and more dread, because it's clear what must be sacrificed for what's truly at stake.

Lena changes her clothes, but keeps her sneakers on. She exits the locker room and while Kara could have gone anywhere, Lena has a good idea where to find her.

Still she's relieved to find her hunch is correct. Making her way inside Alex's hospital room, Kara sits holding her sister's hand, the soft beeping of the multiple monitors and machines keeping time.

Lena's shoes squeak as she makes her way to the end of the bed, it feels fitting that when she looks down she sees that there's a drop of blood, Alex's, on them. When she looks back up, Kara is staring at her like Lena is an unexpected interruption.

_Good_.

Kara goes back to looking at Alex and they're quiet for what seems like forever before Kara speaks. "This is my worst nightmare you know."

Lena stays silent. Listening.

Kara continues, and it’s unclear if she cares if Lena is even there or not. "Not Alex dying- I know she will eventually... but her dying alone." Kara drops Alex's hand, and looks up at Lena once more. "Where's Eliza? Where's Maggie? Why am I the only one here?"

"Because that's the way he designed it." Lena says flatly. "All of this is to elicit a reaction. He wants us to feel these big things all through some misguided plan to get us to feel big things for each other as well."

Lena walks around to side of the bed opposite Kara. She eyes the machines, their mechanisms pumping and dripping life into the body they’re connected to. "All these 'episodes' are to figure out how to reach that goal. He's gathering data. Last episode he saw that you were focused on reuniting with people instead of focusing on me. So this time he gave you all your people- but in a way so you couldn't really interact with them."

Lena traces the heart beat as it spikes across the monitor. "And he made ME save Alex in this one. Assumedly so that you'd be, I don't know, grateful or swoon or something and I'd be feeling just as on top of the world as I was and... well the writing's on the wall."

She looks back at Kara, who looks slightly disgusted, but is clearly still listening.

"He's operating under quite a few false assumptions though. The biggest, being that you either love me, or could. And as long as he believes that, he's not going to stop. We have to change that."

Lena knocks over the IV, the bag ripping from the cord and spilling the contents when it hits the floor.

Kara leaps to her feet. "What are you doing?!"

"Proving that assumption wrong." Lena reaches over and rips the ventilator out of the machine.

The monitors start screaming and Kara looks like she might join them. "Lena!"

She studies Kara’s face, knowing nothing between them will be the same after this. She has to do it though, because Kara was right. The world needs Supergirl more than Lena needs Kara Danvers.

So she grabs the pillow out from under Alex's head and proceeds to smother it over Alex's face.

"LENA! NO!" Kara rips at Lena's arms and Lena turns and punches her in the face as hard as she can.

Kara reels back, falling to the floor more out of shock than the pain. She gapes up at Lena, watching her continue to smother the life out of her sister. "Why are you doing this?!"

"In order for this to end he needs to know that you don't love me. That you can’t..." Lena looks down, face blank, the way she imagined her mother's was, the way Lex's was, when they crossed that final line to the other side. "So I'm not stopping until I'm sure you hate me."

 

*_*_*_*_*


	8. chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hello lovely readers it's Morgan, I apologize for the delay on this story as well as my others but I've hit a rough patch in life as we all do and had a bit of a struggle getting back to writing but here I am! and I believe this chapter is long overdue so on with the show!

“Do you realize what you’ve just done? God dammit look at me Lena!”

She was locked in J’onn’s office as soon as the nursing staff was able to pull her off of Alex’s lifeless body. She could still see Kara rooted to the sterile tile floor; it was the first time Kara had ever blatantly regarded her with fear in her eyes, disgust painted so clearly across her face.

Lena didn’t have to wonder if this is what a broken heart felt like, she didn’t think it had ever really been fully put back together since the day she moved in with the Luthors, but she did wonder why this one felt like her entire world had shattered underneath her, leaving her stuck in a blind free fall.

Large hands shook roughly at her shoulders.

She looked up to see the same fear and anguish in J’onn’s eyes. A man she had never even knew existed until now who was apparently a father figure in Kara’s life. How did she know so little about Kara when it felt like the blonde held every piece of information that Lena had kept from everyone else in her life?

It didn’t matter now.

“None of this is real.”

J’onn looked at her like she had lost her mind.

“Lena, you know you’re like a daughter to me-“

“Do not talk to me like you know me, the fact that you would let ANYONE say that to me just proves to me how cruel I knew you were!” She knew she looked hysteric, screaming at the ceiling like she was calling on a god she knew wouldn’t answer.

“I am a product of my own upbringing. EVERYTHING I did was because _I_ pushed myself, _I_ raised myself, _I_ worked my ass off for my success. I am no one’s but my own! NO ONE’S! DO YOU HEAR ME?”

J’onn stood back from her chair now a dark look crossing over him as he stood behind his desk.

“You know I had to call the police, you killed one of my best doctors-”

“Alex is not a doctor! None of you are! Alex is a federal agent, Winn is a technical analyst, James is a photographer, YOU are a god damned Martian! Kara is an alien and you all play dress up and save National City from its catastrophically large amount of super villains and none of this is real!”

J’onn blinked at her incredulously, the look in his eyes she recognized all too familiarly. It was the gaze of someone who had already dismissed her as a madman, she’d seen it more than once throughout her lifetime.

Just as his mouth opened, no doubt to yell even more than he already had, the door to the office slammed roughly open.

J’onn nodded at whoever had walked in, Lena was too busy staring fervently at the wall to acknowledge the new presence.

“Thank you for doing this for me Detective. I just think you should know that she’s been babbling nonsense ever since it happened; I think you’re going to find that you’ll have to run up a psych exam on her. This isn’t the Lena Luthor I know.”

She heard the detective laugh gruffly behind her.

“Don’t worry J’onn I’ll take care of her, you know how much I trust you, so if you’re vouching for her, I have no doubt we’ll be able to come to an agreement.” The voice was greasy, dripping with an overabundance of false sincerity. Lena didn’t have to be a Luthor to spot a dirty cop.

A strong pair of hands grabbed both of her shoulders and pulled her up out of her chair and fastened a pair of handcuffs on her wrists before roughly leading her out of J’onn’s office.

Lena had expected a crowd to meet her descent, maybe more officers, nurses huddled together whispering, but the journey down the stairs and to the front lobby was surprisingly silent. No news crews to catch the last Luthor being locked up where she belonged.

The hands that were gripping her shoulders quickly spun her around just before they reached the doors leading outside.

The green suit gave it away before the blue skin did.

“Cyrano.” Her voice was nothing more than a growl, but the genie didn’t seemed fazed by her anger.

“Lena darling how are you? You look a little pale love, something on your mind?”

“I’m going to kill you” she lunged at him but he caught her by the scrubs roughly.

“Ah ah ah, start playing nice or I’ll retract my own kindness,” his grin was practically poisonous as he framed her face with one blue hand, “and trust me sweetie, that’s not something you want to be around for.”

The CEO struggled to hold her tongue but she gave the genie a curt nod. She knew all too well how to play the long game.

“Excellent! Well now that I have your attention let’s have a little chat shall we?”

The next thing she knew they were hovering in what had been Alex’s hospital room. Kara was sitting on the bed wrapped in the blanket Alex had been covered in. Lena opened her mouth to say something but a hand over her mouth stopped her.

“She can’t hear you or see you right now we’re just visiting, love. Now let’s see if I can remember how to, oh yes!”

All of a sudden Kara’s frantic voice filled the room despite her mouth staying firmly shut.

_Alex, Rao, Alex you would know what to do I just need you to tell me what to do. What am I going to do? What are we going to do? Where’s Lena, I need to find Lena, Rao this is messed up why don’t I hate her for this? Why? I hope she’s ok I need to-_

Kara’s voice was cut off as quickly as it appeared as they flashed back in the hospital lobby.

“Geez even in her head that girl rambles, can someone get her a Prozac or something?”

“Cyrano you need to end this. I’m tired and she’s tired and this is never going to work out the way you want it to. I’m sorry but that’s just the wa-“

“Do you love her?”

Lena stopped and felt her mouth snap shut. All of the blood in her body seemed to rush to settle into her cheeks and neck.

“That’s beside the point, the point-“

“Do. You. Love. Her?”

“You don’t get to pop into my life and-“

Cyrano snapped his fingers.

“Of course I love her.”

The words crawled out of her throat and into the air before she could hold her tongue. Lena slapped a hand over her mouth and tried to suppress a gag, never in her life had she felt so much of her privacy invaded. _She was regularly followed around by the paparazzi for Christ’s sake!_

“Then my dear, I will always hold out hope. Love is worth fighting for you know, and I don’t know about you, but I’m going to go down swinging!”

“I think the phrase is understood to be you fighting for your own love.”

“Semantics.”

Lena rolled her eyes and let out a dramatic huff that she hasn’t used since her boarding school days, but this situation was the first in a long time where she reasoned that the pouting was actually justified.

“Oh my dear while I have you here, there was something the showrunners and I discussed that I just _promised_ I would pass on.”

He was smug now and Lena was absolutely fuming, had they been in a cartoon there would have been steam pouring from her ears.

“You were right. You both were when you said this wasn’t real, Television very rarely is you know, but my powers? _Very_ real. And if you and your sweetheart refuse to play by the rules, I will make this very. Very. Real. And National City can kiss their beloved caped crusader good-bye. You don’t want to see the extent of my abilities Ms. Luthor, I can promise you that this is just the tip of the iceberg.”

His eyes flashed dangerously and Lena felt herself swallow around the dryness that had appeared in her throat, but seconds later the shark like, cheeky grin returned, leaving Lena to wonder if she had simply imagined the fire glowing in his eyes.

“All right now doll we still have some loose ends to wrap up, I really do hate that we had to write you off of this one, I do love a good Doctor Drama.”

He turned her roughly back around and led her to the sliding glass doors where she could see the cop car waiting for her, but when the doors open she was pushed once more into the static filled oblivion.

*_*_*

 

[12 August 2017 5:17 p.m.]

_You are being watched._

 

*_*_*

Lena woke with a start, zip tied to a suede couch that had definitely seen better days.

“Miss Luthor, it would behoove you not to struggle.”

The voice came from a figure cast in shadow on the other side of a barred door. She looked around her makeshift cell trying to regain control of her senses, had she been drugged?

_Am I in a library?_

“Indeed you are Miss Luthor.” The man stepped into the warm light of the lamps now; his eyes were far more serious than she had ever seen as he studied her.

_“Winn?”_

“You seem shocked that we caught up to you, you haven’t made it hard for someone who is usually so meticulous about cleaning up her trail.”

Lena tugged at the restraints to test the amount of give they held but sighed when her wrist barely budged.

“Like I said Miss Luthor, struggling isn’t in your best interests. Miss Danvers made sure you wouldn’t be going anywhere for quite some time.”

Lena’s eyes flew back to Winn, it was so _odd_ seeing him dressed so nicely, but felt her hopes come crashing back down when Alex stepped up beside him, tie loose around her neck and coat thrown casually over her shoulders.

“Lena.”

“Alex.”

Winn cleared his throat and held up a photo into the light, even from her awkward angle on the couch she could make out what it was.  _Kara._

“We believe you have some information on this woman that is pertinent to our operation. Care to share?” Alex’s voice was calmer than she can ever remember it being and it shook her momentarily before memories that were not her own flashed before her eyes.

Zip ties.

Hot irons.

_“I kind of enjoy this sort of thing.”_

Jesus Christ.

Lena felt the heat rise to her cheeks as Winn and Alex eyed her curiously. She cleared her throat roughly dismissing any of the lingering thoughts, “We might’ve had an… altercation.”

Alex and Winn each raised an eyebrow.

“What’s your interest?”

Winn paced in front of the door and adjusted his glasses further up the bridge of his nose.

“We believe she may play a part in a common interest of ours actually.”

Lena involuntarily let her lips tug into a smirk and she raised an eyebrow playfully, “Do tell Winslow.”

“The Machine.”


End file.
